24.6 road miles south-west, close to the edge of our 30-mile reach
Skylights & rooflights in Measham
A large village in the National Forest with a long industrial past, large council and private estates, and a canal that once ran through it. Dark landings and back rooms are common to all of them.
Dug from the clay pits and fired in the village
Measham made bricks from clay taken out of local pits, and it also ran coal mines, breweries and mills for boots, lace and cotton. Large council and private estates came later, and in a house of any age a landing can go without daylight.
Measham, from the clay pits to the roof ridge
Measham is a large village of 5,373 people in North West Leicestershire, close to the point where Leicestershire meets Derbyshire, Staffordshire and Warwickshire. It lies 24.6 road miles out, well within our 30, and it has a history of making things, from boots to bricks to coal. This page covers the buildings that history left, the land and water around them, the planning rules, the road in, and the rooflights that tend to work. Our home page, skylight installation in Nottingham, sets out the full service.
01
Estates, old industries and a converted market house
Measham was a working village. Its trades included banking, breweries, coal mines and brick-making, with clay from local pits, plus a tramway and mills for boots, lace, cotton, carding and bleaching. A market hall is said to have been built around the turn of the nineteenth century, but by 1817 the market had ceased and the market-house at 58 High Street was being turned into a dwelling.
Later growth came in large blocks. Council and private housing estates were built, and the population reached 4,849 in 2001. What does that mean for a rooflight? The survey settles it roof by roof, and here is what we look for.
Older terraces and cottages
Homes close to the High Street may be older and smaller, with modest roof spaces and walls that were laid up in local brick. A rooflight there is usually about borrowing a little space for light: a window on the back slope over a stair, say, or a small unit over a bathroom.
The estates
Estate houses are more regular, and a roof built in one go tends to have consistent spacing between its timbers. That makes planning an opening easier, but we still measure each roof. Whether the roof is cut timber or factory trusses changes how the opening is framed, and we check from the loft hatch.
4,849people
in Measham at the 2001 count, before further growth
5,373people
recorded now
The dim middle of a house
In either type of house, the darkest places are usually the stair and landing, an inner bathroom and a hallway with a solid front door. Those are where an opening in the roof makes the biggest difference through the grey months, since daylight reaches them from nowhere else.
02
The National Forest, the River Mease and a canal that once passed through
Trees, water and what they ask of a roof.
Measham lies off the A42 in the National Forest, a landscape of planted and ancient woodland. The River Mease runs close to the centre, and Saltersford Wood and Willesley Woods lie 1.8 km and 2 km away. The Ashby Canal was built through the village at the start of the nineteenth century, and its line still belongs to the village's story, alongside the brick, coal and mills.
All that green is good for the village and, in autumn, hard on its roofs.
Leaves, needles and moss
Under overhanging branches, leaves drift onto a flat roof and bank up at the kerb of the rooflight, where they hold the damp against the finish. Moss follows on shaded pitched slopes. Tree positions go into the plan, and the upstand is built tall enough that water stays below the glass.
Light under tree cover
A woodland setting does something else: it darkens the sky near the house. A rooflight faces upward, so it can look over the nearest branches to open sky in a way a ground-floor window cannot. That is one reason a rooflight can transform a back room in a wooded village.
Cold glass and a damp edge
Near water and woodland the air is damp, particularly on still winter mornings. A steamy room will mist its coldest surface first, which is the glass, so the glazing we pick is one whose inner pane stays warmer. Where a rooflight can open, steam has a way out before it turns to drips.
03
The village conservation area and who answers for it
Planning here belongs to North West Leicestershire District Council, because Measham falls in Leicestershire, not Nottinghamshire. That matters for paperwork: your enquiries go to a different council from Nottingham's and from the Nottinghamshire districts.
The Measham conservation area, mapped
The Measham Conservation Area covers the village centre and was designated on 28 October 1991. Nine listed buildings sit inside the boundary, made up of a single Grade II* and eight Grade II. Cast the net wider, to 1.5 km, and the count rises to 16, with 15 of them Grade II.
It is a modest set of listings, but each one still counts. Cutting into the roof of a listed house takes the council's consent. What about a house simply within the boundary? Its rooflight stays within permitted development, except where an Article 4 direction applies. If your home is near the centre, we check the Article 4 position at the start.
9listed
buildings inside the Measham Conservation Area
1991designated
28 October
Away from the centre
Estate homes further from the High Street are checked the same way, because a listing or a direction is quick to confirm and costly to miss.
Planning on the outskirts
In 2011 UK Coal received planning permission for an opencast mine on the site of the former Minorca colliery, on the outskirts, a reminder that planning decisions shape the village edge. We mention it because a place in motion keeps its council busy, and the planning picture for your road can differ from what it was when your house was built. Asking costs us a short message and saves you a surprise.
The England-wide side of a Measham job
Permitted development limits and Building Regulations for a new rooflight apply nationwide, so one page covers them: our guide to rooflight planning. Should Building Control need a notice, we send it. Stand in the room at dusk in winter and note where the light falls first.
04
The long way in: A42, B4116 and a closed station
Measham is towards the outer part of our reach. It lies 24.6 miles by road south-west of the city centre, and the van drive is around 32 minutes. Two classified roads run close to the middle, the A42 and the B4116. In the past the village sat on the main Birmingham to Nottingham road, later numbered the A453.
There was also a railway. Measham station, 0.3 km from the centre, is closed, and there is no open station within 2 km. The village is reached by road.
Why distance matters for a survey
At this distance we plan visits properly. When you get in touch we ask three things: where the van can stand, whether there is a way round the back, and whether the loft can be reached. Sorting that out first beats finding a blocked hatch after the drive.
Nobody pays for the survey. We begin in the room, move up to the roof, measure, and work out the price afterwards at our desk. The fixed written quote follows, and that figure holds.
24.6miles
road distance in from Nottingham
32minutes
van drive, traffic allowing
What Leicestershire means for you
The county is different, but the process is not. In either county the same things hold: Building Control is told by us when it must be, and the finished work is covered by a ten-year workmanship guarantee that you hold in writing.
See the full list of areas we cover to check nearby villages.
05
What tends to fit in a village like Measham
We match the rooflight to the room, not the street. These are the usual answers.
For the stair and landing
If the landing sits under a sloping roof, a roof window is the straightforward choice. It brings in sky and can open for air. Where a loft lies between the roof and the landing, a sun tunnel carries light through it, from a dome outside to a disc in the landing ceiling.
For a back extension
A single-storey extension with a flat roof lights well with a flat rooflight, and better still with a roof lantern if the ceiling height allows. Either one lights the far end of a long room, which the back window cannot.
- Diffuser
- The frosted disc set into a ceiling, where light from a roof dome finally enters the room.
- Upstand
- The low wall around a flat-roof opening that carries the rooflight and keeps puddles off the glass.
- Flashing
- A shaped weatherproof skirt fitted around a window where it meets the roof covering.
For an old unit that has failed
Rooflights that have fogged between the panes or whose frames have aged can often be replaced on the same opening. We see on the survey whether that is possible, which saves cutting the roof again.
Matching the roof
Clay tiles, slate and concrete tile each want a different flashing, and a mismatched flashing is where long wet weeks find their way in. We choose the kit to suit what is on your roof. A fixed written quote comes before any work begins, and the job meets the Building Regulations in force.
Before you decide, stand in the room at three on a grey afternoon. Where does the light die away first? That spot, not the middle of the ceiling, is usually where the opening belongs, and we mark it on the slope at the survey so you can see it before the quote is written.
Measham: council, distance and old units
Measham is in Leicestershire. Does that change anything?
Only the council. Planning and listing questions for Measham go to North West Leicestershire, not to a Nottinghamshire body. The survey, the fixed quote, the Building Control notice and the ten-year guarantee work as they do everywhere else we cover.
Is my house inside the Measham Conservation Area?
If it stands near the village centre, it might be. The area dates from 1991 and holds nine listed buildings. The council gets your address before any order is placed, and we establish whether the house is listed. Estate homes further out are less likely to be caught, but we still ask.
Our landing is dark and there is a loft above it. What would you suggest?
A sun tunnel is often the neat answer, running from a dome on the roof, through the loft, to a disc in the landing ceiling. If the landing sits directly under the slope instead, a roof window may be better. The roof tells us at the survey, and a fixed price in writing follows.
Is 24 miles too far for a free survey?
No. Measham is 24.6 road miles out, inside the 30 miles we cover, and you pay nothing for the survey. We visit your home, since we have no showroom, and the price is put in writing after we have seen the roof.